Jesperi Kotkaniemi had another rough night in the Carolina Hurricanes' 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at PNC Arena.
The former Montreal Canadiens was once again left off the scoresheet as he was only used 12 times by his head coach Rod Brind'Amour and had a total playing time of 9 minutes and 12 seconds. Only Brendan Lemieux was less busy with the Hurricanes than the third selection in the 2019 draft.
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Following the clash against the Devils, Kotkaniemi has now sat out his last six games and has only collected two assists in his last 15 appearances.
The Finn's dry spell had no impact on his compatriots in the team, as Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho each scored a goal. However, it was Jordan Staal who scored the winning goal at the end of the second period.
The Devils attempted a comeback and even reduced the deficit to 3-2 in the third period thanks to Justin Howling and Jesper Bratt, but it was too little, too late.
Stamkos becomes even more of a part of the Lightning legend
In the Tampa Bay Lightning's 6-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes, Steven Stamkos wrote a new page in his club's history.
In fact, the Florida team captain reached the 1,100 career point plateau by being involved in his team's third goal, scored by Nikita Kucherov in the second period. Stamkos added more shortly after by scoring his 20th goal of the season.
Number 91 is the sixth active player to achieve such a feat, joining Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Patrick Kane and Anze Kopitar.
The local heroes got started on their second appearance. In addition to the successes of Kucherov and Stamkos, Mitchell Chaffee let his team take a 5-1 lead. Darren Raddysh, Brayden Point and Luke Glendening also gave Tampa Bay a red light.
Sean Durzi, Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse responded for the Arizona-based club.
Red Wings shut out Flyers
The Detroit Red Wings won 3-0 against the Philadelphia Flyers at Little Caesar Arena.
This defeat is the fourth in a row for John Tortorella's men. Samuel Ersson, who took over as the Flyers' starting goaltender in Carter Hart's absence, didn't have an easy night with 14 saves.
It was completely different for his opponent Alex Lyon, who blocked all 30 of his opponents' shots. All three of the local heroes' goals, scored by Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider and Andrew Copp, came in the second period.
The Michigan team is 9-1-2 in its last 12 games and holds the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers remain in third place in the Metropolitan Section.